Home Again

This has been my home for the last 4 weeks. I certainly was glad to get home and use all the hot water I wanted while being able to turn around in the shower and to sleep in a bed that my head and feet didn't touch opposing walls.

I don't know what my Care-a-Vanner future will be. The side of my camper developed some bulges sometime during the last few days. I took it to a local body shop, who in turn called an RV repair. They think the siding separated from the undersurface. Consensus is that any fix would be temporary and very expensive. So, we'll see. Pray that someone can fix the old girl.

Thank you to all my friends and family who prayed for safe travel and took care of my house, my mail and my dog.

The Last Supper

If you are wondering about the water on the floor in the previous picture we'll ask Dwight. He and his wife Marilyn have been on 4 of the same builds that I have. Great folks and fellow Kansans.

You can see Al reheasing his backup singers with OOM-PAH-PAH and Deedle-Deedle. (George, Pat, and Darrel) He entertained the group with a magic act. I have video, but it is too large to upload. The audience was reduced to tears (of laughter)

Groups usually try to get together at the end of each build. Chillicothe care-a-vanners make it an event. Poor Tony usually gets roasted. This year we all wore badges that said "Friend of Tony" because he always says he doesn't have any friends, just relatives when it comes to helping him with the build. The team leaders, Don & Melanie, Tony and Jim received t-shirts with team pictures and signatures on them.

Last Work Day in "Chilli"

We didn't get as far on this house as everyone hoped. The weather and individual schedules just didn't cooperate. The house has the siding started all the way around. Soffit and facia are nearly complete. Most of the sheet rock is hung. This is George, from Minnesota, in the sheet rocked room. He is a master at roto-zipping around boxes under the rock. You will also see him later as an Oom-pah man in the video.

Etc.

Melanie, team leader tries to get a point across to Jim using sign language. Her hubby, Don, standing by to assist in translation.

More pretty trees at Grand Oaks Camp. What a lovely time of year to stay there!

Pizza Steps in the mud

We were saving pizza boxes, cans, and plastic to recycle. Here is another way you might not think of to recycle.

My Pal, Ellen

Ellen received flowers delivered to the work site for Mothers Day from one of her daughters. She and her husband, Darrel, were my neighbors at the campground. Ellen I went to garage sales and the Amish community on the weekend. She and I worked on our muscles by cutting and moving 16' sheets of 5/8 sheet rock around the house.

They live part time in a small house they are rennovating in Iowa to be near their parents, in a cabin in northern Minnesota and in their motorhome.

Happy 85th Birthday, Gracie

Grace Minor had a birthday, Saturday May 10th. She has traveled to the Chillicothe build for 4 years with her 88 year old husband, Ron. He is the unofficial photographer and saw man. They are from Chillicothe OHIO.

Albuquerque Al & Charming Charlotte

A very entertaining couple. Al does magic tricks (video to follow, hopefully) and Charlotte loves to visit with everyone. Al also does much more than hold the ladder up at the build site. I just wanted to show what a cool hat he has.

This is Tony Figg on the left and Jim Clemens on the right.Tony has been the construction coordinator for the last several years at Chillicothe. He has a great sense of humor and many people look forward to working with him every year. He is self-employed, so taking 2 weeks off to work with us is a big sacrifice. This year the affiliate hired Jim, a professional carpenter, to work with us. It worked out very well. Tony dropped by every morning to lay out plans for the day and Jim was there to answer all our questions and help us fix any mistakes. We weren't able to complete as much as I'd hoped, but several people had to leave early one weekend or the other for previous plans. Oh, Jim is great....... nephew to Samuel Clemens the author.

Wednesday, May 7 2008

Well the weather held off today, so we were able to work all day. I was on the sheet rock crew. Boy, I am beat tonight. It rained about .30 last night so we had more mud today which we covered with straw in an attempt to stay upright. Here is a picture of my shoes after 10 minutes. Also for todays viewing is the offending step and the only picture of my injuries that I am willing to post.

Also, FYI, my little boy will be 30 years old one week from today!!!

Monday

We were trying to get enough done today that we could work inside the rest of the week if needed. There are forecasts for a good chance of heavy rain the next 3 days. I started out in the crawl space helping connect sewer pipe. As you can see my self portrait didn't turn out so well. We put in all the windows and started trying to get the F-channel up for the soffit.

I took a beautiful swan dive out the front door with many people watching, of course the electrical inspectors were there. I have a bruised elbow, shin and shoulder. Pictures of bruises could follow tomorrow, if there is enough demand! Turned out the front steps were moved aside and didn't get set on level ground. I should have held on to the door. Four feet in flight only hurts when you land.

These are chickens someone has in their backyard about 2 houses down. The geese make lots of noise when we walk by.

Weekend

Well, Saturday turned out to be a nice day. I went to a couple of garage sales Friday afternoon on the way home, but didn't find anything fantastic. Saturday a.m. one of the other women and I went to a few more, but still no great things. Late in the morning we went to Jamesport, about 25 miles away. It is a small touristy (run-down) town in Amish country. We visited a couple of antique shops looking for baskets made by the Amish teens, but ended up at a furniture store to find them. We found our greatest treasures at the bakery and the bulk grocery, both run by Amish.

Weather

Bad weather again. Severe storms in the area. We were in tornado watch all night. Here are pictures of the clouds that I took in the early evening. Matt called me at 2 a.m. to tell me they had high winds, so of course I stayed awake waiting for them to hit. It rained and the wind blew and rocked the camper. The rain let up about dawn. It started raining after we got to the jobsite, and the shinglers were trying to work on the roof,so we did a little work inside the house and quit for the day. The weather looks like it's building again, so that is not such good news for the garage sale weekend.

Backing up

I was reviewing my pictures and realized that I didn't tell you about the roof. The trusses were delivered by the lumberyard. They bring them on a flatbed truck and just drive out from under them. An Amish man was driving which was unusual. I thought I was being sneaky taking a picture through the window, but he waved as he left. Go figure! A local contractor came to set the trusses. The team was responsible for placing the felt so roofers could come the next day. The she-woman going up the ladder is Roseanne, wife of George, from Minnesota.

Thursday, Happy May Day

We are getting a late start this morning as the professionals are setting the trusses and no one wanted to work beneath them. Also parking is at a premium at the site. Most of the streets are so narrow, they are marked no parking. There is a sheltered workshop across from the build where adults make pallets and do piece work (the 5 nuts, washers and bolts that you buy in a little bag at Walmart). They allow us to use their parking lot. Unfortunately that facility will be the view from the front porch of this new home.

I am already making big plans for the weekend. There is a community wide garage sale on Friday and Saturday, so you know where I'll be. I already have the map and will study carefully tonight. I plan to go to the Amish community of Jamesport Saturday and at least have a piece of pie. Wish you were here to go with.

Spring

Spring is really showing her stuff here. There are lots of flowering trees and shrubs in bloom along the roadways. There are several magnolias here in town. This tree (maybe flowering crab) is abundant here at the camp. The other picture is a view from the hill above where I am camped.